London City Airport has a single 1,500-metre (4,900 ft) long runway, and a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P728) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flight training (but only for training necessary for the operation of aircraft at the airport). Only multi-engine, fixed-wing aircraft with special aircraft and aircrew certification to fly 5.5° approaches are allowed to conduct operations at London City Airport. The largest aircraft which can be used at the airport is the Airbus A318, which has been modified with a "steep approach function".

London City served over 4.5 million passengers in 2017. It is the fifth-busiest airport by passengers and aircraft movements serving the London area—after Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstedand Luton—and was the 14th-busiest in the UK in 2017.